Customer Reviews

Hugging the Rock

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Hugging the Rock is a middle grade novel written in verse. It's the story of how pre-teen Rachel adjusts after her mentally ill mother leaves home, and how she learns to rely on her emotionally distant father (the "rock" of the title). She starts out in denial, not doing her chores, not doing her homework, not telling her best friend or her teacher what's going on. Gradually, Rachel begins to learn more about her mercurial mother, and why her mother couldn't stay. She also learns more about her father, as they work together to build a new life for themselves.

Rachel's voice is pitch perfect. The verse format works well in conveying her disjointed thoughts, and her up and down moods. The verse also makes the book fly by - I read it in one sitting. But it makes you want to go back and re-read individual poems, too. I have two favorite parts. The first is the page titled "Mother's Day". The rest of the page is just blank. As in, what is there to say, it's Mother's Day, and my mother went away and left because she didn't want to be with us. These words don't need to be said - they're right there, hidden, on the blank page. There's also a scene in which Rachel and her father are in the car, returning home from an emotional visit to their counselor, Dr. Dan. Dad tries to talk. Rachel shrugs. Dad tries again, and, we hear from Rachel "I shrug louder." It's brilliant!

This book packs a lot into relatively few words. Susan Taylor Brown offers insights into life with a mentally ill parent, how fathers parent differently from mothers, how personally kids take any parental rejection, how "sometimes dads are better moms than moms are", and how, ultimately, people adapt to changing circumstances. Hugging the Rock is beautifully written, and I give it my highest recommendation.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on May 15, 2006, and was made possible by an advance reading copy.

This is a very moving verse novel about a girl adjusting to life without her mother. Although there is pain in the book, caused by life with and without a mentally unbalanced mother, the bond that forms between the girl and her father is beautiful. Hugging the Rock was a real pleasure to read.

Verse novels. Until script novels came along they were the hottest new children's literature format since kids books became more than didactic screeds. For a while there you couldn't walk into a library or open a bookstore door without tripping over a pile of these hot new titles. Now the siren call of the verse novel has quieted down and few authors go in for that particular format in as vast a numbers as they did five to ten years ago. But there are always exceptions. "Hugging the Rock" wriggled into my pile of books to read not too long ago, and even though I had many other titles to consider, I decided to give it a shot. That's the advantage of the verse novel. It's quick to read and should you find yourself not taking to it, finishing it might entail five or ten minutes of your time, max. In this particular case, however, "Hugging" is a particularly enjoyable read. Dealing with issues as difficult as those found in any Karen Hesse or Sharon Creech book, Brown gives us the story of those who run away and those that stay.

Rachel's mother ran away. Rachel's mother ran away while Rachel, her father, and the family dog all watched. It wasn't entirely out of the blue, but it wasn't as if the kid could see it coming. All her life her mother has been different from other moms. One minute she's manic, racing through shopping aisles or wanting to talk all night with her daughter. The next minute she's locked herself in the bathroom, sobbing and sobbing. So when she leaves, Rachel tries to figure out why. She blames her father, the guy her mother always called, "The Rock", for his reliability. She blames herself. Maybe there were things she could have done to make her stay. But slowly, very slowly, she and her dad start to get to know one another. Her mother left. Her father stayed. And by getting to know her own past, and by getting to know her own father, Rachel begins to understand exactly how important it is to have a rock in your life.

It's incredibly rare to have a book written for children where one of the stand up and cheer moments is when the child heroine cuts her mother out of a photograph. I recently read Tony Abbott's, "Firegirl", where that same action was done. In Abbott's case, the cutting is seen at the end of the book to have been a mistake. Here, it's a moment of strength. The strength to stop caring so much about someone who doesn't care for you. Hell, it's downright gutsy to go and create a mother character that seriously does not love her daughter. Name all the books off the top of your head that do this. Hard, isn't it? Even when mothers are evil or difficult (as in "Bucking the Sarge", by Christopher Paul Curtis or "The Same Stuff As Stars" by Katherine Paterson") they still seem to care deeply for their children. And perhaps on some level the mom in this book does too. Just the same, it's obvious that her bipolar nature keeps her from caring much for the people who care for her. That's the way of the world, people. Dealing with it is the hard part.

As with any verse novel, one unavoidable question rises up after a reading: Did this book have to be written in the verse format? Would it have benefited from a longer narrative? A little prose, perhaps? But the fact of the matter is that this is a very simple but emotional tale. Brown could have written pages and pages and pages of text. She could have dragged the plot out, thereby boring both the reader and herself. In the form of verse, however, she is able to synthesize every argument down to its most salient points. She's good with the simple sentences too. When Rachel discovers that her mother never even wanted to have Rachel in the first place and that it was her dad who fought for her existence the book reads, "His fingers rub in a circle / on the back of my hand / almost as if he's trying to rub wanting me / into my skin". Good stuff.

Brown is still finding her voice as a writer, but "Hugging the Rock" is an accomplished start. As verse novels go, this one may speak to those kids who are reluctant readers but still want a good and realistic story. A fine novel and a good book to begin with should you ever want to introduce a kid to the wide world of verse novels at all.

I loved the writing. I loved the story. I loved the characters. This is not a book you will forget quickly. It will stay with you, and you may find yourself picking up the book again and again, to reread favorite poems that say so much in so few words. I look forward to more novels by this talented author!

Rachel's mother runs away from home and she is left behind with her father, an emotionally-distant man she barely knows. The reader is thrown into the middle of Rachel's journey as she looks for answers and acceptance.

Susan Taylor Brown tells a moving story in Hugging the Rock. She dares to bring painful emotions to the surface, connecting with her readers through shared feelings and experiences.

A powerful novel with the potential to spark heart-to-heart conversations among families and friends.

Lets just say that your mom left you alone with your dad, and you barley talk to him. How would you feel? Or how would you feel when your mom didn't really want to have you? I know that would be pretty awful.

Hugging The Rock is an extremely descriptive story. Rachel gets left with her dad and barley knows him because she doesn't spend time with him; how would she talk to him about "Girl stuff." Her life is very difficult in the couple 2 months. This book clearly reveals Rachel's emotions, describing moments that are painful and reassuring; for example, her mom leaves, she isn't very productive during school. While I was enjoying the story I felt really sad because I was a reading a truly sad part.

I absolutely recommend this book to anybody that really admires sad books. Also, this book is written in poem form. If you are interested and begging to know what is going to happened, go to your nearby public library or buy it at a bookstore.

The absence of a parent hurts, whatever its cause. In Hugging the Rock, Susan Taylor Brown cuts to the core of this anguish and lays bare the raw emotion of Rachel's experience after her mentally ill mother leaves home. The sparse words are laid out on the page in fits and starts, leaving plenty of white space where the reader can pause and let the feelings simmer. As Rachel comes to understand her mother's limitations, the reader is left with many questions about the mother-daughter relationship. But with mother gone, Rachel and her father forge a new bond that sets the world right again for Rachel and her readers. Kids who have to deal with the absence of a parent - whether because of illness, divorce, death, military deployment, or other causes - may find some solace as they see Rachel and her dad work things out. Readers looking for a different kind of story about parental absence might like Danger, Long Division, in which Becca develops a new relationship with her mother while her father serves his country in the Middle East.

Hugging the Rock records the journey of a young girl, abandoned by her mentally ill mother, toward her distant father whom she comes to discover is her "rock." Through the direct, spare language of a preteen girl's poetry, the story expresses the process of a heart's shattering, hardening, opening, and then healing--offering testimony to the invincible, sovereign power of love.

Readers from all kinds of family circumstances will identify with Rachel and will cheer her on as she comes to the end of this journey. I hope she has many more for us to read!

Rachel's mother decides to run away. At least, that's how Rachel feels as she watches her mother pack up the car and drive away to parts unknown. After the dust settles, Rachel takes ownership of Madison, her mother's dog, stops doing her schoolwork, and has trouble talking to her father.

This story tactfully and truthfully discusses desertion and bipolar disorder as one young girl learns the truth about her mother. In losing her mother, Rachel is able connect with her father as she never has before. Readers will find hope and heart in these pages. The novel is written in verse, making it appealing to both aspiring young poets and reluctant readers. Recommended.

Hugging the Rock is a fine and rare treasure. I read it straight through in one sitting because I just couldn't bear to stop until I knew what was going to happen. Susan Taylor Brown's free verse is so musical as one poem leads into the other that stopping midway through would be like turning off a beautiful song before the final note had sounded.

Rachel's mother never wanted her. That is the truth she begins to face as she watches her mother leave. For a while she hopes her mother will return but her emotions and school work plummet as she realizes that will not happen. She struggles to understand her mother's bipolar disorder and grieves for her loss.

Rachel and her father must learn about each other and rebuild their lives. In the beginning, they are not very successful but they don't give up on each other and ultimately Rachel discovers it has been her father who cherished, loved and wanted her from the very beginning.

The story is so uplifting and positive that is will resonate with readers long after they finish it. I know it has with me.